spells

MB Pagan Diary is a program that lets users keep track of their pagan practices. Although it works as described, its unattractive interface and lack of features left us unimpressed.

As is the case with all Mystic Board programs, the opening screen is a clutter of ads for Mystic Board. The program's main interface lets users choose between sections for spells, incense, recipes, and rituals. Each section looks the same, with a space that contains a list of entries, which are not dated. (Yes, a diary without dated entries. Amazing.) When users add an entry they get access to … Read more

Ray's Spelling and Word Games provides a simple program that will help youngsters learn how to spell. With three different games and simple commands that will be quickly mastered, users will love this collection of games.

The program's interface is full of cartoonish images, bright colors, and large, simple words that children should be able to master. If not, their parents will easily be able to assist, making the Help file somewhat unnecessary. The program consists of Spelling Challenges, Word Jumbles, and a hangman-like Find the Word. The spelling challenge provides tutorials that prepare the user for hearing … Read more

SceneWriter Pro offers budding screenwriters a way to organize their great ideas in an industry-recognized format. With easy controls and surprisingly professional results, this is a great tool for creative minds.

While the program's interface is not exactly intuitive, it has several things working in its favor. First, a little experimentation quickly unveils how its main screen and four smaller satellite screens (along with several command icons) operate. As users explore, the program pops up a screen with a helpful tip for that specific function. Finally, the program's Help file will eliminate any other operational questions. The program … Read more

Build your skills for spelling with this interesting tutorial program. While its commands are confusing at times, the results are hard to beat. Users will be able to find help by utilizing this program.

The program has a sleek look, which gives a professional impression. However, users will be wise to look over the massive Help file for directions on how to create their own word lists, since there is no direction on how to navigate the various boxes and command buttons to do so. Users must start by creating one of these lists, so they can focus on words … Read more

If you're into toolbars, Internet Explorer, and Google, the Google Toolbar for Internet Explorer does more than give IE a mere shot of nitro. With a set of features both useful and self-promoting, Google Toolbar 6 feels like it adds eight cylinders to IE's engine, turning it into a powerhouse of personalized functionality for both IE 8 users and those who are stuck on earlier versions.

There's the dedicated Google search window, the effective pop-up blocker, the form autofiller, the translation utility, the spell checker, and the map tool that automatically links addresses in Web pages to … Read more

Despite its name, letter-grade scoring, and nostalgic background of college-ruled paper, Dictionary.com insists Miss Spell's Class is aimed at their core demographic of high school and university students, and business professionals. The application is straightforward and holds some appeal, we'll give it that. In one short session, typically under a minute, you quickly decide which of the 20 words in the round are spelled correctly or incorrectly. Points are knocked off for inaccuracy, with 10 seconds for each error added to your total time. If it takes you forty seconds to go through the list, but you … Read more

Since launching its Dictionary.com app for iPhone and iPod Touch in early April, the folks over at Dictionary.com have been plotting other iPhone applications that use the tools they've got: grammatical, orthographic, synonymic authority. And while they're at it, maybe duplicate the numerical success of their reference app, which has floated among the iTunes Top 10 since its launch, and which hit more than a million downloads within the first three weeks.

The conduit of such lofty ambitions is Miss Spell's Class, a 99-cent app that despite its name, letter-grade scoring, and nostalgic background of college-ruled paper, Dictionary.com insists is aimed at their core demographic of high school and university students, and business professionals.

The app is straightforward. You quickly decide which of the 20 words in the round are spelled correctly or incorrectly. Points are knocked off for inaccuracy, and added to your total time. If it takes you 40 seconds to go through the list, but you get two wrong, your score spikes up to 60 seconds, a B. So save the pokiness for reviewing your score and for kicking yourself for casual errors.

The game is cute all right, and a test to the ego in the way that SATs and other standardized tests are--taunting in their simplicity, and debasing when you miss a word you ought to know. At least you're not alone--the misspellings that are your object to spot are siphoned straight from the top 5,000 botched words entered into Dictionary.com at a rate of 2 million typos and flubs per month.

Still, there are a few light raps of the ruler we'd make. In a test game, 'consiencious' was paired with 'consensus', rather than with 'conscientious'. Apart from that, we're not quite convinced the game will make us more intelligent, until Dictionary.com slips in definitions, and perhaps the pronunciation guide from the free Dictionary.com iPhone app. Miss Spell's Class is also a bit one-dimensional. Although this game title is just the beginning, we'd like to see it instilled with different skill levels and playing modes, where you might actively spell a word, not just passively review it, or quickly choose the right configuration from a handful of choices. There should be different skins to pull in the grade-school youngsters, old fogeys, and tweens who are too cool for school, and competitions over Wi-Fi.… Read more

Google's expertise in translation has begun to pay dividends for an entirely separate project, its Chrome browser--as well as any other software using the open-source spell-checking package called Hunspell.

Chrome combines WebKit's spell-check infrastructure with Hunspell's multilanguage library of correctly spelled words to supply spell-check in 27 languages. But many widely used words were missing from Hunspell, and Google used its translation expertise to fill in the gaps.

Here's the explanation in a Wednesday blog post from Google programmers Brett Wilson and Siddhartha Chattopadhyay:

"The Hunspell dictionary maintainers have done a great job creating … Read more

Some people seem to think they have carte blanche to spell any which way they want to when they're on the Internet. But whether you're writing Web mail or IMs, filling out a Web form, or just entering a term in Google's search box, spelling matters.

And that's not just because an abundance of spelling errors can make people think you're an eighth grade dropout. (Nothing against eighth grade dropouts!) It's also because misspellings can prevent you from finding the information you're searching for and lead to e-mail miscommunication.

Firefox 2 and 3 … Read more